Scanning reveals a tremendous variation in foetal size after an Embryo Transfer programme
Visited a farm in County Laois where a client had implanted in excess of 60 embryos on the same day into a group of surrogate beef heifers. We scanned the heifers from day 32 of pregnancy. Based on eye-balling of the pregnancies when scanning, the foetal ages ranged from 29 days to 35 days. It […]
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Weanling heifers from suckler herds should be scanned prior to Sale
On a farm visit in County Cavan, a client presented heifers which were returned to him after previously being sold through a mart for a subsequent fattening. The heifers turned up in calf and the purchaser did not want the risk of caesarean or calving difficulty. It cost him €250 per heifer returned. The client […]
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Zero grazing saves the day in wet weather
On a farm visit in County Offaly, a dairy farmer informed me with the poor weather conditions and the grass shortages on the home farm created a situation with the choice to feed silage or to graze grass from an outside farm. However the distance involved walking cows on a public road was prehibitative. A […]
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Pre Breed Scanning of Dairy Cows
Farm visits today entailed a series of dairy farmers throughout the Dingle peninsula in Co. Kerry. A range of reproductive problems were encountered and targets were set for dairy farmers to maximise submission rate over the following three week period. Breeding programmes are just about to begin on these farms with a preference for calving […]
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Clinical outbreak of Stomach Fluke in Dairy Cattle
On a farm visit in County Limerick a farmer had a severe outbreak of stomach fluke associated with severe debilitation in the health of a dairy herd. He could not understand because the animals had been treated during the dry cow period and the time of calving to manage stomach fluke. However, in further discussions […]
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Undetected in heat in a Spring breeding programme
On a farm visit a client presented a large group of cows which had not been detected in heat in a Spring breeding programme. It transpired that a high percentage of the cows not detected in heat were pregnant! A stock bull was running with the Autumn calving herd and the freshly calved Spring cows […]
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Downward pressure on Milk Price
Milk prices are taking a downward spiral because of increased milk production in some of the major milk producing countries around the world. India for example was a net importer of milk products up to last year and now is a net exporter. Milk supplies have increased by 9% in New Zealand and over 3% […]
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On calls in County Limerick.
First call was to a client who had a Holstein dairy herd with a focus on utilization of grazed grass for milk production. The weather this morning was deplorable with a cold spell and extremely poor grass growth rates. The client informed me that grass growth rates on his farm had declined this week to […]
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Milk markets are currently sluggish
Milk markets are currently sluggish with milk prices set to drop by up to 8 cents per litre. This is creating uncertainty and reducing the demand for farm inputs.
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Dry cow management dictates the rate of the uterus post calving
Dry cow management and in particular close up management of calving dictates the rate of the uterus post calving. One of our clients who is currently on a P.H.M.P. Programme where repeated measurements of the reproductive tract are observed and analysis. From this we could show that a change in poor quality silage with an […]
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